Typical organizations today conduct business using at least two kinds of systems. The first system is the telephone system. The second system is a plurality of computers internally connected in some fashion within the organization.
FIG. 1 shows a common configuration for a department within an organization. In FIG. 1 the telephone system is represented by the cloud 10 labeled “Public Switched Telephone Network” (PSTN) which includes a number of public switches 12, 14, 16. Many organizations use a particular public switch 14 for their telephone needs, although very large organizations may employ a private switch (PBX). Switch 14 is dedicated, in part, to handle the incoming calls for the organization. An incoming call from a remote caller 18 is routed through the PSTN 10 to the organization's local switch 14 and then routed to an operator console 20 for the organization. The operator then transfers the call to one of the agents' telephones 22, 24, 26 in the organization by means of switch 14. If the agent is not available the call is usually transferred back to the operator and then to a voice mail system attached to the public switch 14 dedicated to the organization.
FIG. 1 also shows a typical computer system configuration within the organization. Most persons within the organization have desktop personal computers 28, 30, 32. These personal computers today are usually connected to a local area network 34, 36 which connects the users to each other and to a business database system 38. The business database system typically contains information necessary for the business to serve its customers such as customer order information or inventory information. Some business database information may be shared by all of the agents of the organization, and some business information may be accessible to particular departments within the organization. Data traffic patterns between the various agents in the organization and between the agents and the various business databases may require that several local area networks be used. It is customary practice to keep each department within the organization on its own local area network. In FIG. 1 there are two departments, the first department having agents 28, 30 connected to local area network 34 and the second department having agent 32 connected to local area network 36. The two local area networks are connected to a hub 40 which gives the agents access to the business database 38 and to each other. The two departments may share a fax machine 42 which is connected to the public switch 14. All connections to the public switch 14 are over standard analog telephone lines 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60. Connection by the caller to the public telephone network 55 and remote agent connection 43 are also standard analog telephone lines.
Such a system, as described above, operates as follows. A caller 18 interested in obtaining some information about his order calls the organization. The call is routed through the telephone network to the public switch 14 for the organization and the operator at console 20 answers the call. The operator listens to the request from the caller 18 and determines which department in the organization is best able to handle the request. The operator then transfers the call to one of the agents in that department via the switch 14. An agent 22 receives the call and asks the caller for information which the agent then enters into his desktop personal computer 28 to access the business database across the local area network to which he is connected. Information is retrieved and read back to the caller, who if satisfied, then disconnects from the organization telephone system. As can be noted from FIG. 1, the telephone system is completely disconnected from the computer network. Agents are required to bridge the gap between the caller in the telephone system and the business database.
Some commercial systems have made improvements to a system similar to the one shown in FIG. 1. One such system is the Wells-Fargo Bank Automated Call Distribution (ACD) system. This system employs a private switch (PBX) for the organization, rather than public switch 14 and attaches a voice response unit (VRU) to the private switch. The VRU asks the caller, a customer, to enter information such as the customer's account number, and the telephone system then “whispers” the account number to the agent before connecting the agent to the customer. This requires that the agent type the account number into his DeskTop PC to access the customer's account in the business database.
Another commercial system is the Siemens Intervoice System. In this system, touchtone information from the caller's telephone is exchanged across a network of call centers, in which the agent telephone LCD display is populated with up to 48 alphanumeric characters of information supplied by the system. These characters identify the caller and his or her needs, including the customer's name and account number. Information in the telephone display is not available to the business computer network. The agent must re-enter the data from the LCD display into his or her DeskTop PC. This represents not only an extra step (multiplied by thousands of calls per agent) but also represents a major source of error, since transcribing by hand is always more error prone than automated entry.
Other commercial systems having a private switch (PBX) connect the switch directly to the Local Area Network. In these systems a “pop up” window on the agent's computer has the caller information available when the call is transferred to the agent's desk phone. While these systems may address some problems, they are incapable of handling a remote agent.
In FIG. 1 a remote agent is one who is not physically connected to a department local area network within the organization. A remote agent office may have a laptop computer 40 with a modem 42 to access the public telephone network 10 as well as a telephone 44 and fax machine 46 to carry out the usual functions required in the agent's office. The remote agent connects to a different public switch 12 from the public switch 14 or private switch (not shown) used to handle the organization. Typically, the remote agent does not have access to the local area networks of the organization nor to any private switch the organization may use to handle incoming calls. This means that calls cannot be transferred to the remote agent to handle as a local agent would. They remote agent is simply not supported by a configuration such as shown in FIG. 1.
Thus, current systems suffer from a number of deficiencies. Some systems require the agents to manually enter information already present in the telephone system into the business database to formulate queries to answer requests for information by the callers. Other systems require that the business database be accessed via a LAN which implicitly prevents remote agents from being employed as a part of the organization. Current systems maintain a separation between a Voice Response Unit, the LAN and the desktop telephones and cannot transfer calls to a remote agent. Therefore, there is a need for a call management system that is capable of being completely integrated with the business data network.